The Gazebo
by Crumpet04
Summary: Sequal to Sparing Partners. Mako decides to listen to Haruka and go and talk to Ami. What will happen when they get caught in a storm? MakoAmi


The Gazebo

'Ok. This is going to be easy. Just make sure you don't chicken out!' Makoto thought to herself as she was in the elevator ascending to the floor Ami lived on.

The doors slid open and if the occupant hadn't been so frazzled she would have heard a faint ding signaling that the doors were opening and everyone should get out. She just stood there.

'I can't do this!' She quickly ran to the control panel and repeatedly hit the 'close doors' button. The doors slowly closed, and Makoto hit the button with the number one on it. As the elevator glided down to the main floor Makoto slid down the wall and sat on the floor of the elevator with her hands on her forehead.

"I thought I could do this. I thought I had the guts. I don't. I don't care what Haruka thinks, she doesn't like me, and I'd be a fool to do this." Mako kept talking to herself the whole time the elevator was moving. Finally she made it to the ground floor, but she was _so_ caught up in her rant that she didn't notice the elevator stop and the doors open.

Makoto had talked herself close to tears. She sat leaning gently next to the control panel with her knees close to her chest and her elbows resting on top of them. Her hands were opened up to cover her red face.

The doors on the elevator finally got tired of waiting for the lone figure to exit, so they closed leaving Makoto in her sanctuary with her thoughts and tears.

She wasn't sure how long she had sat in the same position, but the next thing Makoto remembered was finally hearing the ding-ding of the elevator bell. She stayed were she was, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't notice her. But not only was Makoto blocking all the buttons to the different floors, but the particular person who walked into the elevator rarely missed anything.

"Mako-chan? What in the world are you doing here?" A soft voice asked in a tone that was a couple of octaves higher than normal. "Are you Ok?" The figure rushed over to her and placed her soft hands on top of Makoto's knees.

Slowly moist green eyes appeared following the sound of the voice until they met bright blue. The sight of the eyes brought a lump in Ami's throat, and she couldn't seem to say anything for a minute.

The green eyes surveyed the blue ones, and then made their way back into hiding, but slowly, taking in the rest of the face and body that belonged to the blue eyes.

"Um." Ami _tried_ to talk. She really did. Through her mind ran a zillion things that she could say; should say, but she just couldn't seem to get the message to transfer from her brain to her vocal cords without something getting turned around. Finally she let her body take over were her mind had, for the first time, failed her. The smaller girl kneeled on the ground to be level with her friend, and wrapped her in her arms. Ami just held her; she didn't know what else to do. There was no scientific reason for Makoto to be hurt, and so Ami couldn't come up with a reasonable response. 'Well, sometimes the best answers don't come from the brain, but the heart.' Ami thought as she squeezed her friend, and tried to soothe her.

Makoto was trying to control herself, but Ami was now here, and she didn't know what she was going to do yet.

'Get over yourself Makoto!' She practically screamed inside her mind. 'Just sit up and make an excuse! Do it now!' Finally it seemed her back and legs understood the message her brain was sending. Makoto found herself trying to stand. Only to be stopped by her blue haired friend. Green eyes again met blue, this time in question, not sadness.

"I want to make sure you're Ok before you get away." Ami explained. It sounded a bit off, but then again Ami's brain was still in shocked that it had failed her.

"Oh...Well, I'm fine. Well, I'm fine now. Thank you Ami-chan." Mako finally stood and brought Ami to her feet with her.

"I was going to go for a walk. Would you care to join me?" Ami whispered.

"Of course." Mako's eyebrows shot up at the mention of the walk.

"Ok." Ami turned around and headed out of the elevator.

"Wait, weren't you going to get something from your apartment?" Mako-chan was confused. Wasn't Ami on her way home for at least a little while?

"Well." Ami started off, and it seemed as if she put the pause in her comment to tantalize Makoto just a bit. "I _was_ going to go and get a book, but since you're coming with me I don't think I'll need one." She smiled, and Makoto could feel her mouth automatically curving into a delicate sweet smile, that people who only knew the person she displayed on the outside, would say was not her. Ami knew different though. That was a smile she reserved for special people: people like their princess, or when she remembered her parents, and now at her.

Nothing more was needed to be said between them. They both left the lobby of the apartment building and automatically headed to the park. There had been no plan per say to go to the park, but Makoto was going on Haruka's suggestion and trying to lead them that way. It seemed that Ami held no objectives.

There was a burst of wind that made both of them shiver. 'A cold front is coming' Ami thought as a smile grazed her lips. She had always been good at knowing when the heat was changing, probably from her Senshi powers. It had been horribly hot lately, and they needed a bit of cooling off.

'I feel thunder in the air.' Makoto also smiled a bit at that thought. As with Ami, she was very in tuned with her element, and usually could predict when there would be a thunderstorm.

For a few minutes they walked in silence. They were both content to walk next to one another and take in their surroundings.

After a few minutes of silence the big trees and winding walk ways of the giant park came into view. It made both of them feel at home in a sense. Amy slowly weaved her arm through Makoto's and snuggled close. In turn Mako-chan's heart rate accelerated as if it was trying to break the speed of light.

'She's just cold Makoto. Pull yourself together damn-it!' Makoto had started thinking to herself again.

They both kept walking. Silently, almost as if their minds had discussed it together, the two girls picked the same path and headed down it. They didn't need to question, or even think that the other wouldn't want to choose this path. It had already been decided, and they weren't about to mess with that decision.

"So, I heard you and Haruka-san had a little sparing session a few days ago." Ami had decided to talk, it seemed because they were finally at a place in the park where no one else happened to be.

"Yes, we did." Makoto wasn't sure how long she should stay on this subject. "I lost terribly."

"Well, don't worry; you'll get her next time." Ami's eyes were twinkling. Not many people would think that Ami would be interested in the outcome of a fight, but she was a Senshi after all. Fighting was in her blood.

A smirk appeared on Makoto's face. "Well, I might. I don't know though. I didn't have much of a cheering section." The smirk became a fun pout. "Those lonely punching bags just don't pump up a person's adrenaline. You need a really awesome person there cheering you on."

"Well, I don't know if I'm 'awesome' enough to fill the job. Gomen Mako-chan you'll have to find someone else." Ami's eyes were daring Mako-chan to continue their little war.

Just as Makoto was going to continue a huge rain drop landed on her nose. That one was not the only one however. Many more rain drops continued to fall. The sky seemed to have opened up and it wasn't going to slow. The need for the rain to reunite with the ground was at an extreme. Therefore, the rain drops fell quickly and harshly. Behind the rain and faraway a light escaped through the sky, and then an incredible crash, like that of a tympani drum could be heard.

"I guess that thunderstorm crept up on me." Shouted Makoto as they both headed for somewhere to get away from the continual onslaught of rain droplets.

They ran desperately looking for a dry place to weather the storm in. Suddenly they were in a part of the park that Makoto didn't recognize. Not that she cared; she just wanted to get out of the rain.

"Hey Mako-chan, look there's a gazebo up ahead." Ami shouted through the rain. Mako-chan didn't really hear what Ami had said, but something inside her told her to look up. She lifted her emerald eyes and saw a nice little gazebo with benches and a little heart design on the sides. Just as Haruka had said; it was lovely. Well, Haruka hadn't used the word 'lovely' actually it was more like 'nice.'

They headed for the gazebo. All the while Makoto was wondering how they were 'lucky' enough to find the same gazebo. What were the odds? She just hoped that lightening could strike twice, and with her around it could be arranged.

By the time they reached the little gazebo there were puddles collecting on the pebbled path they were walking on. Their shoes were completely soaked, and so where the socks underneath them. They rushed under the wooden structure shivering.

"Where's Rei-chan when you need her!" Mako-chan said as she hugged Ami to try and keep her warm. Ami just chuckled, but she knew that she was happy with out Rei-chan anywhere near them.

"We don't need Rei-chan, I'm warm enough with just you here." Ami blushed. What in the world convinced her to say that? "Um, I mean electricity also produces heat, and so I'm warm, and and..." She trailed off and looked down.

"Well, I guess it's kind of pointless to try and warm the Senshi of Ice isn't it." Mako-chan backed away from Ami a bit and headed to sit on one of the benches.

Ami's body was saddened at the loss of the heat, or maybe it was just the loss of the tall brown haired girl. Ami wasn't sure.

"Well, I guess it's true that I don't get cold that often." She responded. Ami walked over to Mako and sat down next to her. She again winded her arm into Mako's, and leaned her head on the strong shoulder. "But that doesn't mean that I don't like to warm up every now and then." Ami snuggled next to Makoto making her automatically rest her head on Ami's soft blue locks.

They stayed like that listening to the fall of the rain for quite some time. At moments they would converse, and at moments they just listened to the other's breathing. Nothing mattered to them, except the person they happened to be stuck with.

"Mako-chan" Ami's voice floated up from Mako's shoulder.

"Yeah" She responded in a whisper, but Ami heard her loud and clear.

"Why did you come over? I wasn't expecting to see anyone today."

"Uh." Makoto didn't have an answer. She wanted to be brave and tell her that she had come over to confess her undying love for the genus, but that just sounded too corny. So she decided on the age old answer; avoid the conversation!

"Well, it doesn't matter. What kind of wood do you think this place is made out of?" She looked around as if _very_ interested in the structure of the little building.

"Kino Makoto-san you know very well that this wood is pure oak. Now stop avoiding my question!" Ami's head had moved from her warm comfortable spot on Makoto's shoulder. Now her eyes were burning into the green of her companions. The gaze was intense. Ami wanted her answers, and she knew that if she kept on Mako long enough she would crack. It wasn't as if they were going anywhere anytime soon. The rain hadn't shown any signs of letting up, and the puddles on the paths were turning into little lakes and rivers.

Mako knew she should be strong and tell her. She should follow Haruka's suggestion, that talking actually does help matters. She gazed at the eyes that held such concern for her. Nope; she couldn't risk those eyes looking on in hatred.

"Uh...I...I just wanted your advice on a birthday present for Usagi." Mako shot out quickly.

"Usagi's birthday isn't for a month." Ami stated calmly.

"Oh, well...it's never too early to start looking." Mako tried to cover up, but she knew that she was failing miserably. It was hard enough to fool a genius, but try fooling a genius that knew more about you then you did. Now _that _was a challenge! A challenge Makoto had, unfortunately, not prepared for.

Ami didn't want to believe it. The facts were confusing, and didn't seem to fit with Mako's normal thought process. Something was wrong, and Ami could feel it, although she had no clue what it could be.

Ami knew that it must be something huge if Mako-chan wasn't sharing, and so she let things drop until the tall brunette wanted to talk about it. How long that would be was a mystery to Ami, and she didn't really care. She'd wait for Makoto until the end of their lives if she had to, and that was saying something since they wouldn't even reach middle age for centuries.

"Ok Mako-chan." Ami slowly said. "I guess I'll just have to wait for you to trust me enough." She moved a bit, and hugged her knees with her slender arms.

Makoto just stared for a minute. She could have sworn that Ami was going to push her until she screamed it at the girl, but she hadn't. She had conceded that whatever it was was just too hard for Makoto to say at the moment. Although Mako didn't want her thinking that she didn't have her trust. She didn't want Ami thinking that she couldn't trust her that much, because she did. Makoto trusted Mizuno Ami with more than her life, she trusted her with her heart, and all she had to do was prove it to her.

"Ami-chan." Mako started. She stopped. Not because she was afraid anymore, but because she wanted to look into Ami's eyes. So she inched toward the figure sitting on the floor boards.

"I do trust you." She said as she was moving. "I trust you with my life Ami-chan."

"You couldn't, or you would have told me what was wrong by now." She replied. Not in anger, or sadness, just in a flat tone. A tone that told Makoto how disheartened Ami was. Makoto wanted nothing more than the lift her heart back to where it belonged, and she hoped that by telling the truth that would happen.

"Look at me." Mako's voice was soft and it cracked as she tried to keep calm. Ami turned slowly and met those emerald eyes.

Makoto took her hold of her shoulders.

"I trust you. I trust you _so_ much Ami-chan. I want you to know how much I trust you." She paused again. It was harder than she thought, but she looked up from her staring at the floor and saw Ami's pure blue eyes, and knew that she could do this.

"I like you more than just a friend Ami. I have for at least two years. I think I'm in love with you." After Mako finished that, her body seemed lighter, and she slumped against the half wall of the gazebo. She once again wrapped her arms around her legs for protection.

Ami herself was stunned. She knew that this was what she was hoping for. Her feelings returned, but it still shocked her. It wasn't everyday that your biggest dream actually comes true.

Well, tonight just seemed like a good time to let her body take control from her brain, for again Ami just let her heart lead her. To no ones surprise it directed her right next to Makoto. It raised her arms, and made her hands cup the smooth skin of Mako's chin, and finally it made her face move slowly toward Makoto's.

The kiss was short, and nervous. Afterward they just sat there.

Green eyes locked on blue ones.

Makoto brought her strong arm up and slowly brought Ami down to settle in front of her.

They didn't need to talk. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were there; together.

A scream broke the nights cool. Both girls shot to attention.

A second later Mercury and Jupiter were racing toward the scream of the poor person; they ran together, hand in hand.

**Disclaimer: I don't..repeat don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters mentioned. They belong to Naoko Takeuchi. **

**I do however own this plot. This happens to be a sequal to my story "Sparing Partners"**

**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it R&R.**


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